The quickest I faced were Shaun Tait and Shoaib Akhtar. It was the unpredictability of their actions and rhythm that made you nervous. When you are batting against pace you really have to shorten your back lift, watch the ball and then if you can last 15 minutes, everything starts to move. It is very hard when you start the innings but once you get in it is a real buzz to be facing it. If anyone says they like facing bowling of 95mph aimed at their head then they are lying but the key is to take on the challenge rather than be fearful of it.

Geoffrey Boycott

Jeff Thomson in his prime and Michael Holding were the quickest I faced. When you face fast bowling it is not all about using your bat. Ducking and weaving out of the way can demoralise a fast bowler.

It takes a lot of energy for him to bang it in the pitch and bowl short so if you show you can duck under it pretty well then he will stop doing it. Facing fast bowling brings out the fighter in you. You have to be like a boxer, on your toes and ready for the challenge.

Michael Vaughan

Shoaib Akhtar in Lahore in 2005 was the quickest I faced. I faced him bowling slower balls mixed with 'superflex’ arms so you lose sight of the ball. His double-jointed elbow made the ball disappear from his action and he was bowling like a javelin thrower. It was his intimidatory run-up as well. He was reverse-swinging it and nipping it into the stumps. It is always easier if the ball is swinging away from the stumps because you have a chance of missing it but if it is swinging into the body it is harder to play.

Simon Hughes

The fastest, nastiest bowler was Sylvester Clarke. He looked unthreatening ambling in but a barrel chest and huge shoulders enabled him to unleash vicious thunderbolts that not only reared up from not very short but also cut back at you too. Third ball I faced he cracked me on the side of my head. In the 1980s it was a sort of rite of passage. Before our next encounter I practised going back and across to the offside [and ducking almost before he had bowled] and I managed to survive but he was very deceptive and most of his deliveries were just a red blur.